COUNCILLORS say they are “totally fed-up” with street cleaning contract being provided in Wellington on behalf of Somerset Council.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s environment committee met on September 17 where they agreed to set-up a working group to develop proposals for future arrangements of street cleaning.

They were told that the current programme for street cleaning throughout the town included mechanical street sweeping, bin emptying and a barrow service delivered by ID Verde through a contract with Somerset Council.

The contract was automatically renewed in January 2024 for a three-year period, but councillors did not have a good word to say about the service being delivered.

Cllr Mark Lithgow said: “Something has to be done. ID Verde is shocking – they are just not doing the job they are supposed to be doing.

“They have a contract to deliver a project to clean the streets and they are not doing so. People have told me that they have never seen a street cleaning machine!”

The council’s open spaces manager, Darren Hill, said: “I have had a meeting with Somerset Council about street cleaning – it was not a pleasant meeting because I was telling them about what wasn’t happening here in Wellington.

“I told Somerset Council that the service is not very good – it’s frankly not good enough.

“Somerset Council has asked us (the town council) to start monitoring things to see what work is done.”

Mr Hill told councillors that there had been an old gas canister left to the side of a rubbish bin in a car park in town and although the contractors came and emptied the bin, they did not pick up the canister.

“The gas canister was just left there for ages and so we eventually made a complaint and it was gone the next day,” said Mr Hill. “The canister had been there for so long we were going to get an anniversary card for it!”

Mr Hill suggested the town council could set up a working group to look at the street cleaning in Wellington.

“There are other contractors out there and what are the aspirations of this town council further down the line?” he asked. “We are reasonable people, but we should get a service for the contract which Somerset Council is currently paying for street cleaning.”

Cllr Sean Pringle-Kosikowsky added: “We have recently taken ownership of some of our facilities here in Wellington and now there are other aspects and we should be looking at this on behalf of council taxpayers’ pockets. Every penny counts!”

Cllr Lithgow added: “If ID Verde does not buck their ideas up, we could look at another contractor.”

Councillors agreed to recommend to full council that it forms a working party to look at future street cleaning arrangements in Wellington.

Cllrs Lithgow and Pringle-Kosikowsky indicated that they would like to be a part of the planned working party.

A spokesperson for Somerset Council said: “Somerset Council is aware of the concerns expressed by the Town Council regarding street cleaning in Wellington. We are actively working with them to monitor service levels.”